On Occasion of the Thirty Years of the Establishing Avicena Publisher and its Medical Journals Medical Archives and Acta Informatica Medica

Abstract

Here we will focus on two of the four indexed biomedical journals that were published in Sarajevo during wartime conditions in 1992-1995. The first is the Medical Archives, which was founded in 1947 and whose last editor until 1991 was the respected Academician Mirko Grujic, and whose last edited issue remained in storage (then the printing was done on Heidelberg machines and the text was typed using lead letters) and that unprinted issue – the number one volume in 1991 never even came out. Given that the contracts with the strongest index database MEDLINE included the Contract of the Assembly of doctors of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), which at that time was the owner of the journal, and the pause in printing had already been going on for two years, Medline withdrew this journal as well. Numerous correspondences with the main responsible person Mr. Sheldon Kotzin, we received an unexpected consent from the Medline database to try to fill the gap with at least a few double-issues within 6 months, and Medline will meet us and reactivate the depositing of the Medical Archive in Medline. In addition to these facts, I was reminded of the incredible activities related to the preparation and printing of 47 books and monographs out of a total of 98 in B&H in the war period 1992-1995, and their list is in the attached tables. Those war publications were created in various ways. Very important collection of published monographs are printed during wartime written by very famous scientists from Golden Arabic Ages: Ibn Sina, Ibn Haitham, Ibn Rushd, Ibn Nafis, Al Biruni, Ar Razi, which has been forgotten, translated by famous professors Sakir Sikiric and Hamdija Karamehmedovic until 1962. In addition to these facts, I was reminded of the incredible activities related to the preparation and printing of 4 scientific journals out of 8 biomedicine which today indexed journals in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Very important item from wartime was recording documetary movie "Amputation or Reconstruction in Wartime Conditions" recorded by Izet Masic and Zoran Ridjanovic which made in 1994 and showen in Lisbon during MIE '94 Conefernce as one of war miracles. Finaly, during wartime in B&H Avicena organized and published Proceedings of ten scientific meetings held in sieged Sarajevo and all presented papers were published and deposited in PubMed Central database. Total amount of published books and monographs during past thirty years is more than 200, and, also published papers by Avicena during 30 years in four Avicena Publisher's journals have number more than 15,000 papers writen at least by 60,000 authors, from over 50 countries from all continents, and almost a half of them are stored in most influential indexed databases. It is incredible job of one very small publisher from small countriy.